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Banned in Pakistan, thriving online: 65 organisations still active in recruiting, raising funds and inciting the faithful against India-ruled Kashmir65 organisations banned in Pakistan, either because of terrorist links or as purveyors of sectarian hate, are still visible onlineActivists, journalists and rights groups say the banned groups active on social media operate unencumbered because several are patronised by the military Other sources of support come from politicians looking for votes'There is no place on Facebook for terrorism,' Facebook spokeswoman Clare Wareing said in an email reply to The Associated Press

By Associated Press and Mailonline IndiaPUBLISHED: 07:12 BST, 11 July 2017 It's dusk. The shadows of three men brandishing assault rifles welcome the reader to the Facebook page of Lashkar-e-Islam, one of 65 organisations that are banned in Pakistan, either because of terrorist links or as purveyors of sectarian hate.

Still more than 40 of these groups operate and flourish on social media sites, communicating on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Telegram, according to a senior official with Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency, or FIA, who is tasked with shutting down the sites.

They use them to recruit, raise money and demand a rigid Islamic system. It is also where they incite the Sunni faithful against the country's minority Shiites and extoll jihad, or holy war, in India-ruled Kashmir and in Afghanistan.A Facebook site that features one of India's most wanted, Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned organisation and a U.S. declared terrorist group, in Islamabad, Pakistan +5

'It's like a party of the banned groups online. They are all on social media,' the FIA official told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition his name not be used because agency officials are not allowed to be quoted by name.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is waging a cyber crackdown on activists and journalists who use social media to criticise the government, the military or the intelligence agencies.

The Interior Ministry even ordered the FIA, Pakistan's equivalent of the American FBI, to move against 'those ridiculing the Pakistan Army on social media.'

The FIA official said the agency has interrogated more than 70 activists for postings considered critical. All but two have been released and a third is still under investigation, he said.

Activists, journalists and rights groups who monitor Pakistan's cyberspace say the banned groups active on social media operate unencumbered because several are patronised by the military, its intelligence agencies, radical religious groups and politicians looking for votes.

Even the FIA official concedes state support for some of the banned groups but said it is a global phenomenon engaged in by all intelligence agencies.

'Everyone is protecting their own terrorists. Your good guy is my bad guy and vice versa,' he said, adding that some sites belonging to banned groups are intentionally ignored to gain intelligence.

Haroon Baloch, a Pakistani social media rights activist looks at a Facebook page of a religious group, that refers to their leader as a 'true leader,' in Islamabad +5

On one Facebook page, the Afghan Taliban flag welcomes viewers, its masthead emblazoned with Arabic script identifying the page as belonging to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Still another Facebook site features one of India's most wanted, Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, another banned organisation and a US declared terrorist group.

Saeed even has a $10 million US-imposed bounty on his head. Yet his group, which has been resurrected under several names, is billed as a charity and has several Facebook pages.

Currently called Falah-e-Insaniat, the group boasts of its community work, but its pages feature anti-India videos, they call Syria a bleeding wound, and rail against India and chastise the Pakistan government for siding with the US following the 9/11 attacks.

Facebook and Twitter have said that they ban 'terrorist content.'

In the second half of last year, Twitter said on its site it had suspended 376,890 accounts because they were thought to promote terrorism, although they say less than 2 percent of the removals were the result of requests from governments.

Facebook, meanwhile, said in a blog last month it uses artificial intelligence and human reviewers to find and remove 'terrorist content.'

A social media rights activist points to a Facebook page of a militant group featuring their late leaders, describing them as, 'innocent martyrs,' in Islamabad +5

'There is no place on Facebook for terrorism,' Facebook spokeswoman Clare Wareing said in an email reply to The Associated Press.

'Our Community Standards do not allow groups or people that engage in terrorist activity, or posts that express support for terrorism. We encourage people to use our reporting tools if they find content that they believe violates our standards, so we can investigate and take action.'

Shahzad Ahmed, of the Islamabad-based social media rights group BytesForAll, said Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence agencies are waging a 'communication war' against progressive, moderate voices and those who criticize the government and more particularly the military and its agencies. They use radical religious groups to promote their narrative, he said.

'Their connectivity on the ground, the mosques, madrassas and supporters translates into social media strength and they are (further) strengthened because they feel 'no one is going to touch us,'' he said.

Journalist Zafar Achakzai, who was held for sharing content criticising security forces on social media, sits in his office after being released from jail, in Quetta, Pakistan +5

Ahmed Waqass Goraya is a blogger who was picked up and tortured by men he believes belonged to the country's powerful intelligence agency, known by its acronym ISI.

He said Pakistan's social media space is dominated by armies of trolls unleashed by the military, intelligence agencies and allied radical religious groups to push their narrative.

That narrative includes promoting anti-India sentiment - India is Pakistan's longtime enemy against whom it has fought three wars.

Critics who openly accuse the military of using extremists as proxies are under attack, said Goraya.

He fled Pakistan after social media was used to suggest the he and other bloggers were involved in blasphemy, a charge that carries the death penalty. In Pakistan even the suggestion that someone insulted Islam or its prophet can incite mobs to violence.

Earlier this month, Taimoor Raza, a minority Shiite, became the first person sentenced to death under Pakistan's blasphemy law for a social media posting.

Taha Siddiqui, a Pakistan-based journalist with France 24 and an active social media user who often criticises heavy handed actions of the military or its agencies, has taken the FIA to court to demand to know why he is under investigation after being ordered to come in for questioning.

His resistance is taking its toll with family, friends and colleagues, who plead for him to be silent, he said. 'They worry someday I will just disappear.'

At FIA headquarters in the capital, Islamabad, the official told the AP that banned groups use proxy servers that reveal IP addresses buried somewhere in other countries, making it impossible to track.

That explanation was called 'lame' by Haroon Baloch, a social media rights activist who has studied the free-wheeling use of social media by banned groups and purveyors of sectarian hate.

He said sites can be blocked, users located and the persons running the pages stopped.

Bloggers like Goraya had elaborate safeguards but still were tracked down by authorities, said Baloch.

Unlike the banned groups, Baloch said bloggers, social media activists and journalists are found and stopped because Pakistan's civilian and military intelligence agencies are on the offensive against them.

'Agencies have established a new wing to monitor 24/7, to counter liberal and progressive debate and particularly anything that criticizes their policies,' he said.

A 16-year-old has been arrested as police launched a major investigation into a series of acid attacks that took place in less than 90 minutes in east London on Thursday night.

One of the victims was said to have suffered “life-changing” injuries during one of the attacks, which were carried out by two male suspects on a moped.

The Metropolitan police said the incidents on Thursday night appeared to be linked, and two involved victims having their mopeds stolen. Police said one male teenager had been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and robbery.

The proposals were unveiled by Professor Patrick Leman, the Institute’s dean of education, who said that the faculty should not just be filled with “busts of 1920s bearded men” but rather more modern, diverse scholars so that the Institute feels less “alienating”.

“This is because of the volume of personal information it contains and for national security reasons. We will be inviting Privy Councillors from the opposition parties to the Home Office to have access to the classified report on Privy Council terms.”

The Government has previously said it hoped the report could be released in some form. The decision comes two days after the High Court ruled the Government was not breaking the law by continuing to license arms sales to Saudi Arabia – the state thought to be the focus of the report.

In a summary, the Government said the main findings of the report were that Islamist extremist organisations were generally funded by “small, anonymous public donations” but that “for a small number of organisations with which there are extremism concerns, overseas funding is a significant source of income”.

The summary did not explain which countries were involved in the funding.

^^The article says:__________________However, the Indian view is that the nationality of an individual can only be established by an investigation conducted by Indian agencies, and not on the basis of information provided by UK authorities. The investigation involves police in India confirming the identity of those suspected to be illegal in the UK, which can take weeks, if not months.__________________

After the games our friends in Bartanistan have played, I think this caution is well advised.

JE Menon wrote:^^The article says:__________________However, the Indian view is that the nationality of an individual can only be established by an investigation conducted by Indian agencies, and not on the basis of information provided by UK authorities. The investigation involves police in India confirming the identity of those suspected to be illegal in the UK, which can take weeks, if not months.__________________

After the games our friends in Bartanistan have played, I think this caution is well advised.

Is Vijay Mallya on the list ? I am sure Indian police can help expedite the process in some cases.

^ It is a shame that the rape, pillage and abject destruction of Bharat has been white washed by the Indian curriculum. I recently started reading the book by Shashi Tharroor, Inglorious Empire and its quite an eye opener. It could be a good idea for the erstwhile "Gangadins" to read the book and have their eyes open. The book is a veritable indictment of British crimes on the people of India. The local media and press should shed more light on this. It should never be forgotten, because history always repeats for those who forget!

JE Menon wrote:^^The article says:__________________However, the Indian view is that the nationality of an individual can only be established by an investigation conducted by Indian agencies, and not on the basis of information provided by UK authorities. The investigation involves police in India confirming the identity of those suspected to be illegal in the UK, which can take weeks, if not months.__________________

After the games our friends in Bartanistan have played, I think this caution is well advised.

Is Vijay Mallya on the list ? I am sure Indian police can help expedite the process in some cases.

why extraditing Malya could be difficult An essential requirement of the India-UK extradition treaty might delay the return of Vijay Mallya to face justice in India.The extradition case against him would have to prove that he has committed a crime in the UK as well as in India for him to be convicted and sent to India. In an answer to a parliamentary question, the government revealed this little-known aspect of the law which might make it difficult to bring Mallya back.Minister of state for external affairs MJ Akbar, answering on behalf of the government, said, "As per international norms, dual criminality is an essential component for extradition of a fugitive criminal. In the present case, establishment of dual criminality is a legal requirement according to India - UK Extradition Treaty."http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 668807.cms

So how do people who commit crimes in the briturdia and hide in in India get promptly extradited? And what sort of a Nehruvian convolution is the need to have committed a crime in both britshitland and India to qualify for an extradition.

Personally, this extradition treaty needs to be revoked as they are for the taking and India is for the giving.

Until the UK is willing to reciprocate, put the treaty into abeyance. Now it will not matter to them but when the India economy is much larger than watch them struggle with this actions implications. Either way what do we lose. All and sundry wanted in India are living freely in the UK anyway.

Personally, this extradition treaty needs to be revoked as they are for the taking and India is for the giving.

Until the UK is willing to reciprocate, put the treaty into abeyance. Now it will not matter to them but when the India economy is much larger than watch them struggle with this actions implications. Either way what do we lose. All and sundry wanted in India are living freely in the UK anyway.

we have the chance to screw them in the post brexit trade deals that they are trying to do with us.

One of the key issues which dominated the talks were on the visa issue. Sir Keith Burnett, the vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield, had joined the UK prime minister on her recent trade visit to India. In his blog in Times Higher Education, he wrote,”When I talk to Indians, the hurt is plain. I feel truly ashamed, and don’t want that hurt to be ignored or unheeded. In fact, I’m sure that we need a full-scale response to the danger it heralds. I have tried to stay positive for the past four years as I’ve seen things rot. I have groaned as changes in visa regulations pushed more and more potential students away. The government has assured us that it was not deliberately trying to reduce the numbers. Well, that may be the truth, but the results are in. A 50 per cent drop! Other countries are rubbing their hands with glee at our stupidity. Ms May is announcing that her trade mission to Europe has seen £1 billion in deals announced for the UK. But remember that international students are worth £14 billion to the UK economy every year. That’s equivalent to more than one major trade mission a month.

ashvin wrote:^ It is a shame that the rape, pillage and abject destruction of Bharat has been white washed by the Indian curriculum. I recently started reading the book by Shashi Tharroor, Inglorious Empire and its quite an eye opener. It could be a good idea for the erstwhile "Gangadins" to read the book and have their eyes open. The book is a veritable indictment of British crimes on the people of India. The local media and press should shed more light on this. It should never be forgotten, because history always repeats for those who forget!

Lumley's tv program also felt a bit drab and almost borderline propaganda.

CR: In the 1940s, Britain’s initial understanding of how Europe might work after the Second World War was precisely this idea of “Eurafrica”, as a third way between the United States and the Soviet Union – which was in a way modernising and forward-looking, whilst also being rooted in imperial power. Now, there’s the idea that Britain will go back to a type of Commonwealth trading – but the Commonwealth that’s imagined is always a white settler Commonwealth.

GB: It’s CANZUK: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

CR: Yes! The MEP Daniel Hannan, who was one of the main architects of the Leave campaign, has as his Twitter header photo this sort of mocked-up flag of CANZUK, which has the Canadian maple leaf and New Zealand and Australian flags mixed with the Union Jack. It’s this explicitly white Commonwealth imaginary view of Britain’s future. Brexit is obviously a way in which this concern with the imperial past has become very contemporary – and I wondered how far you thought that Brexit represents a type of imperial nostalgia.

GB: I think that played a part within the rhetoric in the lead-up to the referendum. There was this strange juxtaposition of two contradictory ideas. On the one hand, there was a visceral anti-immigrant, anti-EU and anti-darker British citizens feeling. It wasn’t just about immigrants or the EU, it was also about British citizens who don’t “look” right according to the people making those types of arguments. At the same time, there was this idea that leaving the EU would enable us to establish our old Commonwealth links, with Leave supporters arguing that it was unfair that EU citizens could come to Britain without any connection to the country but that the grandparents or relatives of people in Britain from the Commonwealth couldn’t do the same. What people didn’t seem to understand is that when Britain was negotiating to enter Europe in the 1970s, it used the argument that entering the EEC would enable it to stop Commonwealth migration – and now apparently we were leaving the EU in order to enable Commonwealth migration. These contradictions do not really stand.

CR: The idea of nostalgia feeds back into this discussion about Britain’s place in the world. There is both an anxiety about Britain’s place now, but also a discomfort among many people in Britain with any argument that the Empire was a bad thing. There is a sense that not only does Britain need to reclaim its “greatness” – which apparently also involves not having pink passport covers any more and all sorts of things – but also that Britain should be able to celebrate aspects of its past that many people might believe are not appropriate to celebrate.

The Conservative Party contracted a secretive call centre during the election campaign which may have broken data protection and election laws, a Channel 4 News investigation has found.

The Conservative Party contracted a secretive call centre during the election campaign which may have broken data protection and election laws, a Channel 4 News investigation has found.

An undercover reporter working for Channel 4 News secured work at Blue Telecoms, a firm in Neath, South Wales.

In an area plagued by unemployment and low wages, the call centre hired up to a hundred people on zero-hours contracts. For weeks, they contacted thousands of potential voters in marginal seats across the UK.

The investigation has uncovered what appear to be underhand and potentially unlawful practices at the centre, in calls made on behalf of the Conservative Party. These allegations include:

It comes after the Prime Minister told plotting Tory MPs "it's me or Jeremy Corbyn," as she insisted a leadership challenge would trigger another general election.

Although the letter of no confidence falls short of the 48 names required to trigger a leadership contest, Parliament's summer break could prove critical for Ms May's future.

A former minister told The Sunday Times: “The numbers change from day to day depending on what’s happened but there are about 15 who are fairly consistent in their desire for change.

“If she has a quiet summer and there are no crises and things are not mismanaged then she might be able to cling on beyond conference, but that is still a big if."

At a summer party last week, Ms May pleaded with her MPs to “go away and have a proper break and come back ready for serious business”.“No backbiting, no carping. The choice is me or Jeremy Corbyn - and no one wants him,” Conservative MPs who were present reported her saying."

The Sunday Times' source added: "The break will either have dissipated some of the resentment towards her for gambling away the party’s majority or the rumblings around her leadership will start to flare up again."David Davis topped a survey of Tory members as the candidate to replace Ms May as leader, but most wanted the Prime Minister to remain in post.READ MORETory members 'want Theresa May to quit by Christmas'Corbyn is a 'real threat' to May's premiership, top Tory says

More than a fifth, 21 per cent, of Conservatives want the Brexit Secretary to take over from the ailing premier, according to a study by academics.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is his main rival on 17 per cent while backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg made a surprise entry as the third choice with 6 per cent, the party members project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council found.

But more than a quarter, 26 per cent, did not know or declined to say who they wanted to see as Ms May's successor, according to the data obtained by The Observer.

And 71 per cent said they were reluctant for the PM to quit now compared to 22 per cent who want her to go.

Senior members of the 1922 Committee, which represents Conservative backbenchers, have indicated there is no appetite for a leadership election and that Mrs May would have their backing if she sacked plotters.

While Eurafrica is a mirage, Indafrica is happening under NaMo mnus the imperial strain

In the 1940s, Britain’s initial understanding of how Europe might work after the Second World War was precisely this idea of “Eurafrica”, as a third way between the United States and the Soviet Union – which was in a way modernising and forward-looking, whilst also being rooted in imperial power. ...

I haven't. But I did read up via Google chaacha. Will Will or Harry do the what GB Shaw's King Magnus will do and become political? I don't know. Is that what you are alluding to? Or are you alluding to the imperium getting into the game to disrupt GOI?

Monarchy still rules Queendom- officially and unofficially. The vacillations of the British elite are firmly put on the side when question of divine right of the monarchy to rule the commonwealth arises. While there is a move in Canada and Australia to dump monarchy, it wont happen under the watch of Lizzy the 2nd. She has to abdicate before such a situation arises.

With regards to Eurafrica- wasn't the wholesale import of Africans into Europe the grand plan. It has not worked out, has it?

India has to shed its colonial baggage and subtle racism shown by many towards darker skinned people to make IndAfrica successful. This is tied with the fall of the west as we know it. Still the ideas of beauty are derived from the European ideals. While there is certainly no doubt, a certain European look is pleasing to the eye- so is the certain African look. For eg. there is no doubt that darker skinned inddividuals look better as they get older compared to white counterparts. JMHO.

Papers unearthed by the BBC reveal that British and American commanders ensured that the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 was seen as a "whites only" victory.

Many who fought Nazi Germany during World War II did so to defeat the vicious racism that left millions of Jews dead.

Yet the BBC's Document programme has seen evidence that black colonial soldiers - who made up around two-thirds of Free French forces - were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital.

By the time France fell in June 1940, 17,000 of its black, mainly West African colonial troops, known as the Tirailleurs Senegalais, lay dead.

Many of them were simply shot where they stood soon after surrendering to German troops who often regarded them as sub-human savages.

Their chance for revenge came in August 1944 as Allied troops prepared to retake Paris. But despite their overwhelming numbers, they were not to get it.

The leader of the Free French forces, Charles de Gaulle, made it clear that he wanted his Frenchmen to lead the liberation of Paris.

Allied High Command agreed, but only on one condition: De Gaulle's division must not contain any black soldiers.

// Low priority FYI; http://nypost.com/2017/07/28/teen-who-w ... help-cops/"............The first attacker is described as Asian with light skin, brown eyes, a skinny build and about 6 feet tall. He was wearing a tracksuit top and bottoms, black trainers and was in his early 20s.The second attacker is also described as Asian, in his early 20s, 5 feet 6 or 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a large build and a close-cropped beard and was wearing a blue shirt and black jeans."